Wow! Did the Colliseum rock last night!?!
Yes, indeed it did! Started out a little slow but by the last strains of Honky Cat and that boogie woogie piano, Elton had the crowd on it's feet. His voice sounded rough in places and clear as a bell in others. The high notes of Levon seemed like some of the roughest, while the last "mem-o-ries" of Talking Old Soldiers was breathtakingly clear. Overall, I'd say he was in good voice.
As in St Louis, Blessed was a wonderful surprise but we also got Written in the Stars, which I believe he left out at St.Louis. Another addition which pleased the very middle American type audience was Can You Feel the Love Tonight.
Better Off Dead and Ticking are 2 of my personal favorites so by this time I was already in seventh heaven! The Carla/Etude piano solo blending right into Tonight came up next. This one runs chills up and down my spine and it's here that you start to realize just what an excellent pianist Elton John truely is (just in case you weren't already aware).
Show continued with Take Me to the Pilot, excellent as always, he has this one down to a fine art! After a few more ballads Elton launched into Crocodile Rock, a real crowd pleaser, with the traditional audience participation on the "la, la, la's"! This began a spectacular finish with Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (inspiring light show!) leading into the encore of Circle of Life and Bennie and the Jets. Loved the way he revved up the audience with that recognizable first chord! He'd hit that chord and then run around the stage encouraging the applause! Didn't take much encouraging... by this time he had us eating out of his hand. Prembone would have been proud of all the faithful worshipers.
He thanked Ft Wayne for welcoming him and said he seemed to have more fun playing the smaller venues than the larger ones. Got a big round of applause here! After Bennie he changed from his beautiful lavender suit, shirt, tie and glasses, into a jump suit for the final encore... The Last Song. Very touching finish.
This was a very special show for me since I was sharing the experience with both my mother and my daughter. Very first concert for my 75 yr old mother and she rocked and bopped with the best of them!! It was a great show for everyone including the star himself. All in all a very satisfying evening! It is now extremely late and my winding down time has wound down...time to retire.
mj
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